Column: Clinton Needs To Drop Her Presidential Bid

On Sunday, presidential candidate Sen. Hillary Clinton announced that, despite ongoing campaign pitfalls, she will not rescind her candidacy.

This announcement comes just one day after Sen. Barack Obama gained the support of enough superdelegates to erase Clinton's lead. Clinton, trailing in the polls for weeks, had been banking on the support of party powers to provide a buffer to less than enthusiastic Democratic voters.

And truth be told, it's been a long time coming.

Clinton's campaign trouble started early.

According to the Associated Press, right out of the gate Clinton, well known as a polarizing figure, faced the opposition of 40 percent of Democrats.

Over time, she managed to whittle down the opposition, largely through a shift in public attention from her stance on the Iraq war to the fledgling economy.

Here, her claim of experience really resonated.

Facing economic uncertainty, more voters appeared hesitant to put a newbie in the Oval Office. But it wasn't nearly enough to keep Clinton up in the polls.

In the early primaries and Super Tuesday, Clinton's fortunes rose and fell like the tide - a loss in Iowa, victory in New Hampshire, failure once more in South Carolina. When Super Tuesday rolled around, Clinton came out with a narrow victory.

Immediately following her modest success, however, came what should have been recognized as the death of Clinton's campaign. Clinton suffered nine straight losses on the campaign trail, completely erasing the gains made on Super Tuesday.

The following contests were mixed. It can be said that neither candidate crushed the other in any single contest, but Obama secured enough narrow victories to squeeze Clinton out of the race.

For the longest time, Clinton was undeterred by these failures, as she held the support of many Democratic pit bosses who would be superdelegates.

However, as the Obama camp inched in on her lead, she started to lose her composure.

Feeling the pinch, Clinton turned up her attacks and took every opportunity she could to highlight Obama's faults. Her favorite remained his relative inexperience, but she expanded her attacks to include his relationship with his former pastor and his desire to use diplomacy instead of force with hostile nations like Iran.

As it stands now, the likelihood of Clinton coming back from her deficit is slim.

Currently, she is sitting with 1,689 delegates, according to The New York Times. In order to clinch the nomination, she needs 2,025, leaving her with a 336-delegate deficit.

Obama needs fewer than half that amount to come up on top at the end, which has intensified calls for Clinton to drop out.

And some have made the call a bit more subtly than others.

Last week, a respected pundit officially dismissed Clinton's chance of coming back by declaring Obama the Democratic candidate. It is likely there will be more calls in the near future.

It is clear from both the numbers and public opinion that Clinton's campaign is dead. All she stands to gain from her continued refusal to step out is more bad press for her party.

It stands to be seen how much more damage she is willing to inflict on her fellow Democrats. We can only hope she doesn't kill her party's chances.